At the cinema: Paddington
It’s taken more than 50 years for Paddington Bear to make his way to the big screen, and you might think there’s a good reason for that. In the first place, Michael Bond’s original short stories – the Peruvian bear lands in a series of comic misadventures in his adopted London home – don’t lend themselves to a film narrative. Second, they’re absent the kind of engaging conflict, or antagonist, that movies typically require. Then there’s the fact that this is about a talking bear in an otherwise real universe – how on Earth is that going to work? Answer: it works splendidly, thanks to a note-perfect conception by producer David Heyman (Harry Potter series) and director Paul King (little-seen Brit indie flick Bunny And The Bull). Let’s not worry about the plot, but know this: Paddington is sheer delight from start to finish. It’s witty, charming as hell, visually beguiling, richly emotional and peppered with ingenious action set-pieces. The whole cast is perfectly chosen, and Ben Whishaw's Paddington voice is sweet, funny and a little bit heartbreaking. You might be thinking: kids film; don’t care about Paddington. Fair enough… but you’ll be missing out on one of the best films of 2014.
On DVD: Guardians Of The Galaxy
Some of the movies this summer, we had a good feeling about, and they delivered: Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (also out on DVD this week) was one of those. Others, we had high hopes for, which weren’t quite met – Godzilla falls into that category. Then there was Guardians Of The Galaxy, which sounded pretty intriguing, although Vin Diesel playing a talking tree was a worry. Really, we had no idea what to expect. What the film actually delivered was a consistently delightful surprise, beginning with Chris Pratt (love him!) as doofus adventurer Peter Quill, but also including voice of Bradley Cooper as wisecracking raccoon-like bounty hunter Rocket, and wrestling star Dave Bautista as irony-impervious man mountain Drax. The storyline, with a profusion of villains and obscure motivations, is needlessly over-complicated, but never mind about that: of all the summer blockbusters, Guardians Of The Galaxy was the one this year that offered the most fun. Oh, and it’s got a great, nostalgic soundtrack, aptly called “Awesome Mix Vol 1”.
On TV: The Inbetweeners Movie (Saturday, Channel 4, 9pm)
Coming to DVD next week: The Inbetweeners 2. Which makes this scheduling of the original The Inbetweeners Movie this weekend the very definition of aptly timed. This is the one where the foursome, having finished secondary school, go off on their first proper lads holiday to the Mediterranean – Malia, Crete, to be precise. “Two weeks of sun, sea, sex, sand, booze, sex, minge, fanny and tits. And booze. And sex,” promises Jay, which turns out to be a tad optimistic, although the boys do variously find lustful/romantic opportunities. Fans of Divergent will be paying extra attention to Theo James, who plays unpleasant antagonist James – it’s fair to say he gets a much better chance to shine opposite Shailene Woodley in his latest movie, but we’ve all got to start somewhere. If you’re in on Saturday night, why would you be watching anything else?